Hedge-Fund King Paid Guy Fieri $100K to Hang Out With Him for a Day

by Christopher Freeburn | October 22, 2013 9:49 am

[1]If you can’t win friends, you can always rent them. At least, you can if you’re a billionaire[2].

According to Allen Salkin’s new book, FromScratch: Inside the Food Network, hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen was willing to shell out $100,000 to have celebrity chef Guy Fieri “be his friend for a day,” the New York Post notes.

Contacted by the Post, a spokesperson for Cohen admitted that the hedge fund magnate and Fieri were friends, but denied the books’ claims, telling the newspaper that the story “is false.”

In his book, Salkin says that despite the odd way they met, Cohen and Fieri clicked and actually became friends. Fieri even included Super Duper Weenie, Cohen’s preferred hot dog restaurant, on his Food Network TV show.

Cohen, however, has other non-food related problems. Federal authorities are currently pursuing insider trading charges[3] against him and his firm, SAC Capital Advisors.